FRIDAY in the COUNTRY

Don't use liquid fabric softener on towels and cloths for bath or kitchen.  The liquid renders the linens non –absorbent.  There are a couple of ways to soften your clothing: Add 1/2 - 1 cup vinegar to the rinse water in the washer. Another way to soften clothing is to purchase some "dryer balls" to bounce around in the dryer while your clothing or linens are drying. 

Don't forget to keep on hand some inexpensive nylon tulle/net (the cheap kind, NOT the soft stuff one would use for wedding items).  If you've left a tissue in your pocket and it "snowed' all over your clothing, just put a length of tulle in the dryer with your clothing. I don't know why it works, but it does (friction, perhaps?). I keep a light/white length and a dark/black length on hand for the respective load - 1 1/2 - 2 yards each is a good length. This tulle will last through several loads. When it becomes too soft for this use, give it to the little girls to play dress-up or cut into narrower strips for 'ribbon' on a package.

If you've run out of buttermilk for your baked goods don't fret, make your own.  Pour 1 - 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice into a measuring cup. Add regular milk to make the amount of butter milk needed. Vinegar also works. Stir a little; after a few seconds, your milk with 'thicken' into 'buttermilk'.

Just-a--Pinch of instant coffee granules takes the “bright white” glare out of cream gravy; the flavor can't be noticed (unless you added too much).  

Low on fresh milk?  Add water for liquid – sprinkle dry milk into other dry ingredients…works great with pancakes, waffles, cakes etc. ( add the dry milk to flour and other dry ingredients, first - then add the water when your recipe calls for the 'milk'). 

If you're out of Self Rising flour, you can make your own: For each cup of flour, mix in 1 ¼ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt

Finally, for today, if you're out of BAKING POWDER, again, make your own: For each tsp. Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar and ¼ tsp. baking soda.

© 2014 Cat Brennan

Country Easy

Does this look delicious, or what?!?  I got this recipe from my sister, June, who writes, "Cat, I got this recipe from my friend and quilt buddy, Beth Sprayberry." . It's called 3-2-1 Cake. 
I have not  yet tried this recipe, but only because I don't have an angel food cake mix in the house.  Go to the CAT FOOD page above for the complete recipe.  Proper credit is with the recipe, and it sounds, not only easy, but fun, and delicious too. 

I titled this blog Country Easy because this recipe just sounds so easy.  Let me know what you think of the recipe and please, do try it. This seems like one of those ideas that was long in coming and short on work. I'm going to make this and it will be so handy when someone drops in unannounced.

Click on the CAT FOOD page right now to see this easy dessert.

© 2012 Cat Brennan

Onions Make Country Folk Cry, too..

                                                                                           

I searched the 'net regarding the following question, and this is what I found (About.com.Chemistry):

Question: Why Do Onions Make You Cry?

Answer: Unless you've avoided cooking, you've probably cut up an onion and experienced the burning and tearing you get from the vapors. When you cut an onion, you break cells, releasing their contents. Amino acid sulfoxides form sulfenic acids. Enzymes that were kept separate now are free to mix with the sulfenic acids to produce propanethiol S-oxide, a volatile sulfur compound that wafts upward toward your eyes. This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid burns, stimulating your eyes to release more tears to wash the irritant away. . . read more by clicking here.

Grandson, Jerrod, recently discovered this discomfort, simply from being nearby when his mom was chopping onions.

Onions are still delicious and add so much flavor to otherwise, often, bland dishes. I frequently caramelize my onions before adding to many cooked dishes. 

Ya'll have a wonderful Country weekend whether you live in the country, or just wish you did.

© 2012 Cat Brennan

♥♥♥Hearts in the Country♥♥♥

Hopefully, the Groundhog’s prediction this year is RIGHT ON! Don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough cold weather to last me for quite a while.


Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Are you ready? Think beyond that hideous red silky, satiny, velvet heart shaped box, the stale candy and the over priced cards. Okay! I wouldn’t turn down the long stemmed red roses, but the rest is just tacky.


Love comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes; so don’t leave out anyone when you’re making heart cards and candy. Your little ones at home would love to get Valentine Cards just like their older siblings do at school. Perhaps your sister, aunt, Grandpa or nephew needs to know your love. Make them some cards, or some hand dipped chocolates; they’re not hard. I’ve included a recipe for my very special recipe for Chocolate Tumbleweeds. They are easy, delicious and very impressive. If you’re working on your grocery list, just add some chocolate bark, flaked coconut and some little paper candy cups. These are so easy and no dipping is required.  You'll find the recipe on my CAT FOOD page above.


Perhaps you want to fix a delicious meal and prefer a recipe different from the norm. Here’s a great source. Check out a web site entitled: www.BackOfTheBox.com . There you can find all the recipes you’ve grown to love and just never copied down, such as Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe, Fantasy Fudge, Campbell’s soup recipes galore, and more. Each week day, Back of the Box features a new “brand name” recipe and you’ll also find Monthly entries for seasonal or holiday ideas. Check it out and get cookin’.


One of my all-time meal saver sites is www.AllRecipes.com Use the existing recipes, if you know the name, or type in the ingredients you have and would like to use, and voila! A recipe is almost always there. If you have a favorite that you make and are very proud of, you can add it to the site as well (Mary’s Macaroni Meal, Paul’s Peppy Pizza - or whatever).


Make some special cards yourself. Grab some card stock, red paint, an ordinary kitchen sponge, paper, pencil, Sharpie® and scissors. *Draw a heart that you like on a piece of paper, cut it out and draw the outline of it onto the sponge with a Sharpie® pen. Carefully cut out the heart and make sure it doesn’t have any ragged edges. *BEFORE you trace and cut out your sponge-stamp heart and to make the sponge “work best” - wet it, and then ring out. Then, roll it in a towel and squeeze to remove excess water.


Pour a small puddle of red paint onto a paper or foam plate (if your paint is water-based, you can use a “real” plate if you wash it before the paint dries hard – thus not adding to the landfill). Gently dip the sponge into the paint, and then lightly press the heart onto your card.


Add an appropriate poem or note after it dries and you have a card made with your hands from your heart (see my napkins on the CAT FUR to KITTEN BRITCHES page above). I used this method to stamp/print the napkins with washable fabric paint.


The sponge I used is just an ordinary kitchen sponge without a scratcher side and about ¾” thick; any thicker that this and it would be difficult to cut with clean edges. This idea is similar to the potato stamps we made in Vacation Bible School, but the sponges can be used over and over. Once you are finished with your sponge-stamp, be sure to wash it thoroughly. When you want to use it again, go through the wet and dry procedure as above.


I hope your Country Hearts are full of Love and Laughter!

© 2011 Cat Brennan   © 2011 Aunt Cat’s Place

COUNTRY PUMPKINS

There’s a slight chill in the air and these last few mornings have produced frost on the pumpkins.


Check out the wee pumpkins I made with a small amount of fabric, a bit of stuffing and some odds and ends; specifically, a few twigs and silk leaves, an upholstery needle and upholstery thread, crochet thread or dental floss; needless to say, a glue gun should a always be near by.


I constructed different sizes simply by making larger or smaller tubes of fabric, gathered, stuffed and closed.

I found a similar pumpkin with directions on a Martha Stewart web page. No need for me to “reinvent the wheel”. Unlike Martha, mine were made with twigs for the pumpkin stems. Some ting-ting will add realistic-like vine to your pumpkins.


I display my pumpkins from mid-October through the long Thanksgiving weekend. Nestled outside my front door, the brightly colored pumpkins tumble out of a bushel basket, accompanied by a little yarn “Navajo” girl. A mini scarecrow stands guard nearby.

You’ll find my pumpkins pictured on my CAT FUR TO KITTEN BRITCHES page above. Just click on the link and enjoy!


As far as the “real” pumpkin fruit is concerned, I did freeze approximately 10 cups of pumpkin puree. I froze it in 8 ounce portions so it’s ready for a variety of recipes.


After roasting, the pumpkin seeds make tasty, healthy snacks. Thoroughly rinse the seeds, being careful to remove all the membrane. Let them air dry for 2 or 3 days by placing them in a single layer on a clean dish towel (no need to waste paper towels). Next, toss the raw seeds with a small amount of olive oil, garlic and onion powder, and some seasoning salt. Roast on a shallow pan (jelly roll style or a cookie sheet with sides) at 350° for 10 to 15 minutes. Choose your own seasoning or roast them bare-naked.


May your life be as fully stuffed with blessings this season of Thanksgiving as my pumpkins are stuffed with cotton.

© 2010 Cat Brennan

My Favorite Country Things

Remember the lovely Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music and the song, "My Favorite Things"?
We all have our faves!  This movie is one of mine. 
When I was a little girl, I was a "scardy cat" ... or "fradey cat" ... everything and anything frightened me; noises or movement ... especially at night ... when the lights had been turned off ... and Mother had said goodnight for the 'umpteenth' time.  One night when I was anxious about something, my sister Eleanor suggested that I think about things I liked. I don't know if her suggestion came before, after or because of Julie Andrews' song, but it worked. That simple suggestion has carried me through many "nightmares" over the years. I've outgrown being frightened by "things that go bump in the night", but I still  love this kind wisdom my sister passed on to me.

Think on these things: "Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Php 4:8) (cab version).

Another favorite: M-A-G-A-Z-I-N-E-S!!! 
Especially CHRISTMAS MAGAZINES!! 

And then there are P-E-A-C-H-E-S!!!
Fresh, frozen, canned, dried, pickled, jammed, jellied, preserved, sugared, chilled, room temperature, sliced, diced or chopped.
Peaches are, well, 'just peachy'. 

Just look as some ways the word PEACH is used in our everyday world ..
Peaches and Cream Complexion
Georgia Peach
She's a peach
Peach fuzz
Peachtree®
Peachy keen
Peaches and Herb
Peachy king

The August 2010 issue of Better Homes and Gardens® magazine has a super-peachy article on page 135 ... 50 WAYS TO EAT A PEACH.  

Check out the CAT FOOD page for my "Simply Delicious Peach Tea" recipe.

If that doesn't put the fuzz on your peach, I don't know what will.

Here's to your Country Favorites!

©2010 Cat Brennan

Country Cocktail Picks

At a recent ladies event at my apartment, I served ripe olives and sharp cheddar cheese bites along with other goodies.  Sure, I could have purchased some cocktail picks, but why would I buy something I could make with "stuff on hand"? 
Among the many things in my closet of crafting supplies, there is a shoe box full of sea shells including star fish, sand dollars, and ordinary sea shells. Some were collected at Myrtle Beach, some at Sanibel Island, some at craft stores and some came from a broken necklace.
Using some tiny star fish and other small sea shells, I crafted some nice little picks.
Since I grew up in cowboy country, I love my glue GUN (did you get it?), but chose to use a different medium this time to make sure the shells didn't come loose in the food. E6000® is an excellent multi-purpose adhesive and it held.
Check out the Cat Litter page to see some of the naked picks, front and back, as well as in the cheese bites. These really dressed up the little hors d'oeuvres and were a hit with my gal pals.
A little of the beach made it to my Country world of entertaining.
Beach or desert, sand or sea, it's all Country!  ­© 2010 Cat Brennan

This Little Piggy . . .

Have you seen the price of bacon these days? Certainly gives pause when hearing the expression that “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” .. In my not-so-humble opinion, the sow’s ear IS the silk purse.

At the supermarket, these days, most of the time, you don’t even buy a pound (16 oz) of bacon anymore. No sir-ree! Most of the cured and sliced pig is packaged into 12 ounce portions. This last trip to the market, the least expensive selection was priced at two for six dollars. And that was the “I-never-heard-of-that-brand-before brand” – not a lot of lean meat showing on the few and strangely irregular slices peeking through the little lift-up-the-flap window. Look at it this way .. calculator out and in hand: that 12 ounce package at three dollars would make it four dollars a pound. Not bad. But wait! When the bacon is cooked, you are left with something like 20% food and 80% cooked-off grease. Unless you use and consume all of that grease, you have just paid four dollars for three point two ounces of meat, making that 12 ounce package of bacon actually cost ten dollars or thirteen dollars and thirty three cents pound. Filet mignon, yes! Lobster, definitely. But bacon??? I don’t think so. On the other hand, what are you actually paying if you choose The Brand bacon at $11 or $12 a package (still 12 oz)???

Back in the 1900’s, I’m guessing in the thirties or forties, my dad had a farm where he raised hogs, among other things. He told me one time that when he got a nickel (5¢) a pound, he felt rich.

So the little ‘ditty’ has changed and goes something like this:

(Old: This little piggy went to market)
   This little piggy went shopping at the exclusive organic food boutique,(Old: This little piggy stayed at home)
   This little piggy stayed at his castle lounging by the pool,(Old: This little had roast beef)
   This little piggy had Sushi,
(Old: And this little piggy had none)
   This little piggy is on a diet of Perrier and black Russian caviar.
(Old: And this little piggy went wee-wee-wee all the way home).
   And this little piggy went oui oui oui all the way to his maison in Paris.

This country gal loves to cook with her bacon, and for those few times when “ya just gotta have it” .. and can’t bring yourself to use the already-cooked-and-chopped-up-in-a-package variety, try this sweet little trick.

Purchase the bacon, bring it home and freeze it solid – no cheating! When you’re ready to use it, remove from the freezer. Unwrap and discard the outer cardboard packaging (if it comes that way). Cut a small slit in the plastic wrapping and microwave on high for ONE minute. Remove from the plastic and cut into small pieces going across the bacon. The easiest way to cut it is with a pair of kitchen scissors, but a good, sharp knife will work with the nearly frozen bacon. Continue with regular cooking method from here.

If you only need a half a package, after the one minute in the microwave, cut the entire package in half, wrap the unused portion in freezer-safe wrap, label and freeze (no, it won’t harm it as the bacon has not been completely thawed). Or, you can cook the entire package and freeze what you don’t need at this time.

Since my dad is mentioned earlier, I thought you might enjoy a little bit more of his wonderful, cantankerous, generous and always fun personality. This man was and still is my hero. Since my folks were adults during the GREAT DEPRESSION, they learned how to live on less than . . . and they passed so much wisdom on to their three daughters.

Daddy often bought bent, dented, and no-more-label canned goods; no, not exclusively, but if something was a bargain, he bought it! We always had an excess of canned goods and never did without.

He always bought what was on sale and we were blessed to be raised with a variety of foods … I still refuse to eat Scrambled Beef Brains and Rocky Mountain Oysters, but I do have a broad range of food tastes.

Once, my mom had to explain that just because Daddy kept a lot of postage stamps in his desk, he did NOT get them on sale at the post office….big surprise to me as I thought he got everything at a bargain!

One time, Daddy bought a batch of small cans that had no labels. They turned out to be “people food” but my mom was concerned that they could have been cat food, but she dutifully opened them. She was relieved to discover edible food for her family instead of cat food.

I admit to shopping the same way. If the can does not have any sign of liquid on the outside and is not “bulging” it’s safe. Why not save forty or fifty cents on a bent can?

Easter with all its Promises is just around the corner. Have a Blessed time in your House of Worship and please remember why we celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Christ.

Have a wonderful Country Week as we watch and hope for Spring-like weather.        © 2010 Cat Brennan

Home-made is Heaven-made ©

In this instant-everything, I-want-it-now world we live in, some things tend to come out tasting like fast food .. you know the kind .. the drive through where you receive a glass of chemicals and a quadruple bi-pass in a paper bag to go.

With a little care and a dash of tasty adds, your food will pass the "home-made is heaven-made"© test.
Three of my most favorite small kitchen appliances are: micro wave oven, pressure cooker and slow cooker/crock pot. (read that hurry, hurry, slow down). These three appliances are invaluable in my kitchen.

While living in the great southwest, the pressure cooker was the unchallenged champ in the kitchen. You see, at high altitude, most things take longer to cook than at sea level, a LOT longer!

A family story fondly told about my mama when we moved to New Mexico from West Virginia is that she planned to cook pinto beans for a meal to serve in just a couple of hours. Mama told the family that the beans weren't ready for that meal and she boiled those 'durn' beans forever. Truth be told, I expect the next time she probably soaked the pintos overnight. There's a little magic formula for pressure cooking beans in high altitude: Check out the Cat Food page for that bit of gold.

Try these delicious mashed potatoes: begin as usual. After thoroughly scrubbing the potatoes, to maintain vitamins, minerals and downright good flavor, do NOT peel the potatoes. While cooking the potatoes as usual, (always cover your pan to conserve energy and shorten cooking time), place butter and milk in a microwave-save 2-cup measuring cup and this "tasty add", cream cheese - one ounce for every 2 or3 medium potatoes, plus the salt and any other seasonings you prefer. Nuke these ingredients until melted and warm; mix well. Add the butter mix as usual when mashing the potatoes.

Have a country-filled life no matter where you live.

Kudos to Lowes & More Country Lore

Kudos and grateful thanks to Lowe's ® on West Broad in Richmond Virginia. This crazy Country Gal lost her check book recently. In all honesty, I thought I had accidently thrown it away when I was paying bills. The return address on my checks was an old post office box number. With that and no telephone number printed on them, I wasn't worried about someone using the checks. Apparently the check book fell out of my purse, was found and handed over to some honest soul at the big store.  Lowe's sent the check book to the post office box that I had had closed over a year ago. The package was returned to Lowe's with the standard YELLOW post office label as the forwarding time had expired. Again, Lowe's mailed it to me, this time using the address that was listed on the yellow label. That, dear friends, is CUSTOMER SERVICE ... the kind we used to find in an old Country store or mercantile.

Moving on to more good Country Lore. Don't toss out that dried out bread, or even the heels. They can be salvaged. Dry them to crisp in a medium oven, then make bread crumbs in your food processor. Add a few dry herbs of your choice, such as: basil, oregano, parsley, ground pepper, garlic powder, onion power, rosemary, or sage. Use any combination that pleases your palate.

If life gives you dry French bread, make tasty French toast. Whip up an egg with rich whole cream adding a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg and voila! Ready to cook and serve with butter and honey or maple syrup. For a real country touch, serve with molasses.

Kids fussy at the table? Be a party smarty with your kids. Instead of serving a ho-hum lunch, have a party. De-crust the bread and make their favorite sandwiches; PBand J, bologna, cheese or egg salad - what ever. Cut into triangles or fingers or rounds and call them party sandwiches. For even more fun, decrust the bread, and make sandwiches either 3 or 4 slices thick. Then slice into either fingers or triangles. An electric knife makes slicing easier, but is an option. However you slice it, you're the hero!  ©2010 Cat Brennan